In 2009, Dr R. Bourdeix took part to the 2nd European Congress of Conservation Biology, 1-5 September 2009, at Prague, Czech Republic.
Here is the summary of his presentation.
The concept of “Networked collection” or “Virtual collection”:
new developments and their applications to the conservation of the Coconut palm.
A networked collection, also called a virtual collection, is located at more than one site, spans the genetic diversity of a given species (genepool) and gathers stakeholders having a mutual interest for conserving germplasm. In the extreme application of this concept, each accession could be conserved at a distinct site. All intermediate strategies are thus conceivable. The global coconut conservation strategy (GCCS) is mainly based on ex situ conservation in fi ve regional gene banks. The implementation of a networked collection moves this system towards the involvement of more countries, sites and stakeholders. In the case of coconut, the main limiting factor of conservation is regeneration by using controlled pollination. Several accessions could be planted each in a distinct isolated site. These sites could be islets near inhabited islands or insulated valleys. This geographical remoteness will ensure the reproductive insulation needed for true to type breeding through cheap and natural pollination. In this paper, we discuss the criteria for an accession to be included in the networked collection: uniqueness of the germplasm, genetic representativeness, ability to reproduce it true-to-typeness and policy considerations. This new approach could lead to the disappearance of the classical delineation between in situ and ex situ conservation.
Reference
Bourdeix, R., George, M. L., Baudouin, L., Joly, H. I., Guarino, L., & Engels, J. (2009, September). The concept of “Networked collection” or “Virtual collection”: new developments and their applications to the conservation of the Coconut palm. In 2nd European Congress of conservation biology (pp. 1-5).
©R. Bourdeix, 2022, Section DPP-Czech Republic